210 AUTUMNS IN ARGYLESHIRE 



is also very amusing. It is a real triumph to 

 circumvent the former wily old stagers with 

 lyre-shaped tails and glossy plumage, which 

 always rise well out of shot unless stalked or 

 driven. How the heart beats as one cautiously 

 crawls round under peat hag or dyke, and 

 what excitement one has for a too brief quarter 

 of an hour or twenty minutes, from the first 

 peep, when one finds that one has gained 

 one's ambush unperceived. Next, uplifted heads 

 and excited movements show that the birds 

 have detected the advance of the keepers and 

 gillies before you can see any of them, and 

 then all take to flight, perhaps disappointing 

 you by going right away to the right or left, 

 but sometimes coming straight over you, and 

 leaving two of their number dead, before and 

 behind you. Such a shot is worth a dozen on 

 a set day, for you feel that you have pitted 

 your own instinct and experience against that 

 of those sagacious creatures, and come off the 

 conqueror. 



